Young at Heart
by Natalie Dertoten
Summary: Growing old doesn't necessitate growing up. With the help of a bubbly new aquaintence, Nanako learns that you're only as old as you feel. Eventual NanakoxYukari
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone. This my first fic. Took me long enough to actually post one, seeing as I've been an anonymous reader for about seven years. Feedback is appreciated, and this will be the only time in this story where I will say that I own none of the characters or settings protrayed in this work. Without further ado onto the story, and enjoy.**

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The thick, acrid smell of cigarette smoke and loud, boisterous laughter filled the room. Belligerent, unintelligible conversations swirled around her ears as she entered the respectably sized liquor vending establishment. Yukari Takara was not a frequent drinker, but she did like to visit a bar every once in a while. She'd relax by enjoying several cocktails, maybe a shot or two if she felt particularly daring. However, upon seating herself on a stool and hailing over the bartender, she heard a somewhat obnoxious half yell from her left, directed at her.

"Hey Takara, what're you doing here? You're not legal drinking age yet!" Turning, Yukari was met with the sight of a young blonde woman with a long ponytail, loosely gripping a glass of beer and looking at her expectantly. She was conservatively dressed, in maroon slacks and somewhat ruffled white, button-down shirt, complete with a loosened red tie.

'Strange, I feel like I know this woman from somewhere, but I can't quite remember who she is...' Yukari thought as the blonde narrowed her eyes slightly, looking at her with more intensity.

"Hey, wait a second, you're not Miyuki, you're her mother!" the woman exclaimed and thumped her forehead with her palm. "You two look so much alike, got confused there." The woman rubbed the back of her head sheepishly and grinned.

"Oh, haha, um, thank you," the pinkette replied, still perplexed as to who she was talking to, "but how do you know my daughter?" She furrowed her brow, still trying in vain to recall just why she seemed so familiar.

"Oh, sorry, where are my manners! I'm Nanako Kuroi, her teacher. I believe we met briefly during the open house, parent teacher thingy." She took a swig of her drink. "We didn't spend too long together though. Miyuki was, and still is top of the class, so no need to mince words when certain other, less diligent students require much more intervention."

"Oh, I remember now!" Yukari excitedly proclaimed, the memory clicking in her head, and her face shining like she'd won the lottery. Nanako giggled at the sheer pride and accomplishment etched on the older woman's features, causing her to pout. "Hey, what's so funny..." the pinkette grumbled causing the blonde to laugh even harder.

"Sorry, sorry! You just looked so damn cute there I couldn't help myself!" The teacher managed to sputter out after nearly thirty seconds of laughter, attempting to stifle her chuckles and wipe the tears off of her cheeks. Finally succeeding, she downed the rest of her drink as Yukari once again hailed the girl behind the counter; her cheeks now tinged the same color as her hair.

"One cosmopolitan please." She told the bartender as the woman beside her thrust out her glass.

"And top me off, Matsuri!" The girl took the glass and her notepad and returned to the bar to prepare Yukari's drink, as well as refill Nanako's beer as the blonde woman turned back to her pink haired companion. "So, what are you doing here? You don't seem like someone who needs to drown their sorrows in a drink." The older woman smiled softly at this.

"I just need to get out of the house every once in a while. It gets terribly lonely sometimes, and I can't constantly be pestering my daughter or Honoka for company. Oh, thank you." Yukari explained as the drinks returned, accepting her cocktail and taking a small sip.

"What about your husband? Are you in one of those commuter marriage things?" the teacher queried, eliciting a sad smile from her companion.

"No, it's nothing like that. He passed away about a year after Miyuki was born." The blonde gasped, feeling ashamed and looking down.

"Shit, didn't even cross my mind that he might... I-I'm sorry. I didn't think." She looked up, confused at the small giggle from the other woman.

"Oh Nanako, you didn't know, it's not your fault! Stop it with that apologetic look! I came here to have a good time, not have people pity me." The younger woman raised an eyebrow but complied, a smile returning to her face.

"Alright, if you insist."

The two women continued to drink slowly as their conversation strayed to anything that popped into their heads. From their mutual culinary ineptitude and dislike of household chores, to their vastly different home lives. Nanako spent most of her time on her computer, whereas Yukari read novels, and completed puzzle books. Soon enough however, Nanako began to see that the prim and proper, reserved woman she had initially seen gave way to a very mischievous and playful girly side.

"Now hurry up and finish your drink, we're going to go out and do something fun!" The blonde complied while casting a curious glance at the woman as she called over the bartender. "Check please, hers too!" Yukari looked over the two receipts, adding them up in her head. As she tossed down a couple 5000 yen notes to cover both bills, Nanako attempted to protest.

"Hey, you don't have to pay for mine! Gimme that!" She attempted to snatch her receipt, but Yukari held it out of her grasp. She leaned over into the pink haired woman, but her arms just couldn't quite reach the slip of paper. Pushing the grasping appendage aside, the mischievous mother stuffed the receipt down her shirt before sticking her tongue out at the other woman.

"Well, tough potatoes. You didn't even drink that much anyway, plus that swill you had is dirt cheap. C'mon, let's go!" She grasped the arm of the still thoroughly confused teacher and pulled her out of the bar and down the street.

'Good thing I remembered to grab my purse," the teacher thought amusedly, noting Yukari's unrelenting strength and iron grip and doubting she could've escaped to retrieve it should she have left it behind. She allowed herself to be dragged several blocks before she felt her companion stop. Looking around, she noticed they were standing in front of an obnoxiously vibrant sign proudly proclaiming that they were outside of one of the local arcades.

"Hey, wait a second, what are we doing here?" the blonde asked, causing the pink haired woman to giggle jovially.

"Isn't it obvious? We're going to an arcade, silly!" she replied with glee. "C'mon, it'll be fun! I've never been to one before, but I'm sure you have." The other woman smirked.

"Yeah, I used to hit up the arcades. Alright, but I must warn you," Nanako flashed her fang at her companion as they crossed the threshold into the noisy room, "I'm not gonna go easy on you! The arcade kids back in the day didn't call me Serpent Nana for nothing!" Yukari laughed loudly as they proceeded to quickly locate the token dispenser. Nanako popped a bill into the machine and split the dispensed coins between her and the bubbly pinkette, who raised her eyebrows. Nanako waved her hand.

"You bought the drinks so I'm doing the first round of tokens." The mother simply nodded as they strolled around, searching for a promising looking game. Yukari spotted a row of racing simulators and pointed towards them excitedly.

"How about those, they look fun!" Yukari asked, having to raise her voice above the din of the games and loud techno music. The blonde nodded.

"Need for Velocity 4? Sure! Those ones even let us race each other!" They sat in adjacent seats and popped their tokens into the slot. "Ah, I remember playing the original Need for Velocity back in the day, I was unstoppable!" The screen changed to a car select menu, the backdrop depicting a high tech garage.

"Um, what do I do here?" The blonde looked over at her puzzled partner as she looked around the screen for assistance.

"Turn the wheel to choose which car you want. Here," Nanako reached over and grasped the wheel from the side. "I'll pick one suited for a beginner, easy to handle." Highlighting the desired vehicle, she hit the horn with her palm and locked in her friend's selection. Turning back to her own screen, she hastily picked a car of her own as the timer ticked down to zero.

"Alright," she continued as the background changed to an auto body shop, "here you can pick your car's color, again with the wheel and horn." Yukari managed to navigate the menu well enough to make her car a bright pink, with Nanako's car a vibrant yellow. Once more the screens changed, this time to a view of their cars, as well as six others lined up on a city street.

"Is there a clutch?" Yukari asked and Nanako shook her head.

"Nah, it's really streamlined. Just change gears when your car's RPM indicator is high enough. Get ready!" They looked back at their screens as a timer counted back from there, before a loud digitized voice proclaimed:

GO!

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Nanako's jaw hung slack as the results were displayed on the screen. Second place. She'd gotten second place to the pink haired tornado that had effortlessly left her in the dust. Try as she might, her gaming skills had crumbled before the driving finesse of the woman beside her, who'd never been to an arcade, or even played a video game before. Said woman was currently giggling and clapping at the bright flashing lights of the victory scene showing her car doing donuts in the middle of the street, when mere moments ago Nanako had seen her face fixed in a steel-hard mask of concentration.

"How..." Nanako sputtered as she slowly turned to look at her quite jovial companion. "How did you do that?" Yukari simply shrugged and adopted her usual bright grin.

"I just drove fast!" she replied with a bubbly giggle. "I don't know, I just knew what I was doing. I've always had a penchant for reckless driving, so I was kind of in my element. You know, I failed my driver's test four times before I managed to pass, and even then it was barely."

"I see. Well, it was impressive to say the least." Nanako stood and stretched, feeling and hearing several of her vertebrae pop as she did so. "Anyway, what's next?"

They continued to meander through the arcade, stopping at game cabinets here and there. Nanako noticed that any time the game involved a joystick and buttons, Yukari would get annihilated with extreme swiftness. If it involved a prop of some sort however, such as a steering wheel or a light gun, the pink haired woman would dominate the poor game, opponents falling in droves before the might of what Nanako had secretly dubbed "The Pink Monster."

All good things had to come to an end however. Nanako glanced at her watch and sighed to herself, finally realizing how late it was. Though she didn't have to teach tomorrow, staying out any later probably wasn't the best idea. Turning, she grasped the sleeve of the shorter woman to get her attention.

"Hey Takara, check the time. We should probably leave soon." The Pink Monster checked her cell phone and let out a loud "Eep!" of realization.

"Oh dear, it is rather late isn't it?" Yukari sighed. Nanako raised an eyebrow at the deflated tone the normally bubbly mother used, feeling as if she should say something to return her to better spirits.

"Hey, uh..." the blonde started, nervous for a reason she couldn't quite place. "If you... you know, wanna do something like this again sometime, that'd be cool." Nanako screamed at herself mentally as she led the mother out the door, berating herself immediately as the words left her mouth. 'What the hell was that, Serpent Nana? You sounded like a schoolboy asking his crush out on a second date! Jeez...' She was startled out of her self-afflicted chastising though as she felt a soft pressure around her arm.

"Oh, a second date? That sounds wonderful, I'd love to!" Nanako's face turned beet red at the pinkette's light hearted comment, her cheeky grin, and accompanying clutch on her arm. 'Why is she holding my arm?' the blonde wondered as she felt her face hit a thousand degrees. 'For that matter, why the hell am I blushing so much? Guess it just surprised me. Yeah, that's it.' She told herself as she continued down the street with Yukari being pulled along by the appendage currently held in a death grip.

"Hey, Takara?" Nanako turned her face as she continued walking. "How are you getting home, calling a cab or something?" Yukari shook her head.

"No, I'll take one of the late trains home. My house is close enough to the train stop that it's not a great inconvenience." The mother replied, unlatching herself from the taller woman's arm. "Tonight was great, I haven't had this much fun in quite some time. Here," she rummaged around in her bag and pulled out a pen and notepad, "here's my cell phone and home phone numbers." Scribbling out the digits, she finished and passed it to Nanako.

'Oh, uh, thanks." The blonde stuttered and paused before thinking to grab the outstretched pen and paper. After ripping out the note with Yukari's number and scrawling out her cell phone number, she passed it back. "Well, uh, talk to you later." Yukari nodded and began walking down the street towards the train station. Nanako simply watched as the pink haired beauty strolled down the sidewalk, only turning to leave once she was lost from sight.

Sighing and grinning, she began to trek to her apartment; unconsciously checking her pocket every few minutes to make sure the small slip was still there.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone, and welcome back. This was done a lot sooner than I expected. Keep in mind chapters won't usually be up this fast, but I'll try to update as frequently as I can. Without further ado, enjoy the story.**

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The sun shone brightly as it rose on the horizon, signalling the start of another morning. Weekend workers groaned as they readied themselves for their jobs, and animals and insects stirred from their dens as they prepared to face the day.

Nanako Kuroi too was awake and active, surprising herself by waking up at only seven o'clock and feeling more refreshed than she had in a long time. She still had a slight hangover, but with a few Tylenol she was good to go. Humming to herself as she exited the shower, she quickly towelled off her hair and contemplated breakfast.

'Let's see here' she thought as she rummaged through her kitchen looking for something quick and easy to eat, still not feeling like cooking despite her chipper mood. Finding some leftover pizza in the fridge, she popped it in the microwave as she booted up her computer. 'Oh, Konata's online.'

A message from the brilliantly blue haired otaku popped up in the corner of the screen as soon as the thought entered her mind.

Konakona: Hey Teach! Where were you last night, I needed you!  
Nanakon: I was out last night.  
Konakona: Phooey! I was hoping that you'd take a break from your usual weekend drinking since Yui was on duty.  
Nanakon: Actually, met someone else at the bar. I had a pretty fun night, and I wasn't even that drunk.  
Konakona: Oh? I'm intrigued! Tell me more!  
Nanakon: We left the bar and spent the whole evening in an arcade. I got trounced at Need for Velocity 4 haha.  
Konakona: Whoa, really? I thought you were great at that game! Was it some mystical game guru hermit from high up on the top of the Himalayas?  
Nanakon: Haha, nope. She'd never played a video game before. Guess she's just really good at driving.  
Konakona: ...  
Nanakon: What?  
Konakona: Trashed by a newbie Teach? I'm disappointed.  
Nanakon: Hey, she was really good!  
Konakona: Hmm, I'll bet she was if she could wipe the floor with the almighty Serpent Nana!  
Nanakon: Can it, you. Up for some dungeon crawling?  
Konakona: As always. I've been grinding all night, I wanna show off my new abilities and loot!  
Nanakon: First things first, are you done your homework?  
Konakona: Yep! I was at Kagamin's for most of the day yesterday, and have the lumps on my head to prove it.  
Nanakon: Alright, if you say so. Let's get to it!

With that Nanako delved into the digitized realm of warriors and magic to whittle away her day off, her breakfast sitting forgotten in the now cold confines of her microwave.

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Across town another woman was also idling her day away on her computer, albeit in much less of a fantasy setting. Solitaire didn't exactly evoke images of fire breathing dragons and mystical wizards. Humming to herself, she moved the virtual cards around with a practiced ease. Sighing as she completed her fortieth game in a row, she frowned slightly.

'I'm bored' she thought glumly as the cards went through their now extremely familiar victory animation. 'I need something new to do. Hmm, what was that game Nanako said she played? Adventure... something or other? That sounded interesting. Maybe I'll see if they have it at the store.' She smiled and grabbed her purse.

"Miyuki," she called after knocking on her daughter's bedroom door, "I'm going to the store. Do you need anything?"

"No thank you, mother." The girl called, and with that, Yukari left, slipping into her shoes and hopping into her car. A quick drive brought her to the neighbourhood Most-Buy electronics retailer, and after finding a parking space she entered the store.

From there, she had absolutely no idea where to start looking. Meandering over to the computer games section, her attention was bombarded by all manner of video games. Cover upon cover vied for her attention, depictions of everything from war torn soldiers brandishing assault rifles, superheroes in bright neon costumes, and giant grotesque monstrosities. Down on the end of the aisle, she even spotted several covers depicting all manner of anime girls in compromising positions. Eventually, she snapped her attention away from the captivating images bombarding her eye and looked for an employee to assist her.

"Excuse me" she approached a bored looking sales associate, "could you help me find something?" Grunting in affirmation, he slowly made his way over to her and followed her to the aisle full of software.

"What're you looking for, ma'am?" he questioned as she scanned the games on the shelf.

"I'm looking for a computer game called Adventure... something." She furrowed her brows as her search continued. "It has wizards, and swords and things."

"Oh, do you mean Epic Adventure Online?"

"That's the one!" her eyes snapped up and the employee flinched as her outstretched finger was directed at him.

"One... one second please." He finally stated and quickly located the object of her desire. She followed him to the till as he quickly rang in her purchase and took her money.

"Have a nice day." She smiled and waved behind her as she exited the store. Sighing, he resumed leaning on the counter, and looking disinterestedly around the store.

"They don't pay me enough for excitable customers like that." He grumbled.

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After the lengthy installation and boot up process, which was thankfully pretty much completed itself, Yukari was dumped into a character creation screen. Placing her left index finger upon her chin, she scrunched her brows and browsed through the options available. Class, race, spec, she was bombarded with options she didn't quite understand. She opted for an elf (for the cute pointy ears), and modified to resemble herself. A moment later, she selected a fighter class (for the cute outfit). Not bothering to look at the other attributes and customizations available, she chose at random until she was eventually whisked to a small medieval town bustling with life. Text and instructional images popped up frequently, roughly guiding her through the basics of controlling her character. Sighing, she set to work attempting memorize such actions as moving, talking to other characters and players, attacking, and using items.

Little did she know that a blonde wizard and bluenette tank had taken note of her arrival in the land of Azerith.

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The blonde woman stretched her stiff muscles, loosening her limbs which had not changed position in quite some time. After a few moments of allowing her body the liberty and motion it craved, her stomach finally reminded her that she had forgotten to retrieve her breakfast from the microwave and had not made any move to consume anything else. Sighing, she rose and left her pizza to reheat as she grabbed a can of 11-Up from the fridge before returning to her computer.

Konakona: Hey Teach, someone new is online.  
Nanakon: Really? Where?  
Konakona: Starting town. They're fresh out of character creation and seem to be dropping all their items and running into walls. Wanna help em' out?  
Nanakon: Sure, why not? Just wait until I fast-travel.  
Konakona: Wow, they also have no grasp of the concept of usernames. She has her full name as her username, and I actually know who it is. You might too.  
Nanakon: Oh boy. Dare I ask?  
Konakona: Never thought Miyuki's mom would be into computer games at all, much less MMORPG's.

Nanako's nose stung terribly as the carbonated beverage was expelled out her nose, and she narrowly avoided covering her computer in the sugary beverage by turning her head just in time.

Nanakon: Yukari's online?! Since when does she play computer games?!  
Konakona: A better question is; since when are you on a first name basis with her hmm? :3  
Nanakon: Oops, I guess the secret's out. I was with her yesterday.  
Konakona: I also didn't know that she drank. Huh. Well anyway, let's go.

Stepping out of the fast travel portal, Nanako was met with one of the most amusing in-game sights she'd seen in quite a while. A character bearing a startling resemblance to her new friend was wandering aimlessly about, accidentally bumping into characters, players, and pieces of scenery. What few items she had started with were lying aimlessly about and quickly being snatched up by those looking to take advantage of the inexperienced player. Giggling to herself, she decided to help the fighter in distress and swiftly dispatched the scavengers with a few powerful, high level spells. Being low levels themselves, they were ill equipped to defend themselves and burst into showers of items upon being contacted by the deadly projectiles. Scooping up the dropped loot, she quickly scanned the area and noticed Konata attempting to chase the bumbling pink-haired avatar. However, due to her own characters lack of speed, she was unable to catch the quicker fighter character, even if the person controlling it had no idea what they were doing. With another chuckle, she dashed off to pursue the witless wonder with her own rather swift wizard.

Nanakon: Hey Yukari.

The pink haired character stopped and wheeled around in circles, wondering who was messaging her.

Nanakon: It's me, Nanako.

The character stared at her and occasionally made odd movements but made no reply.

Nanakon: To send chat messages, press enter, then type what you want and hit enter again.

A few moments later, a message popped up in Nanako's chat window.

Yukari Takara: Hello!  
Nanakon: Heya! Since when do you play Epic Adventure Online?  
Yukari Takara: I bought it today, since you were talking about it last night.  
Nanakon: Huh, awesome! A new party member is always cool. Now we have a physical attacker, as well as a magical attacker and a tank!  
Yukari Takara: Huh?  
Nanakon: Never mind. Where the heck did Konata go?  
Yukari Takara: Oh, Izumi-san is playing too? How fun!

As if on cue, the bulky character model of Konata's avatar waddled up to them.

Konakona: Hey guys!  
Nanakon: Hey.  
Yukari Takara: Hello, Izumi-san.  
Konakona: No need to be so formal, miss Takara! We're guild mates now, so you can call me Brigade Leader!  
Nanakon: And how is that less formal?  
Konakona: Nah, I kid! You can just call me Konata.  
Yukari Takara: If you insist, Konata-san.  
Konakona: That works too.  
Nanakon: Hey, guys? Not to interrupt, but it's getting kind of late. I'm logging off, and Konata, you should too. I wouldn't want you falling asleep in class, and I'm sure you wouldn't want to either. **Right?**  
Konakona: Yes ma'am! Wouldn't want any more lumps than Kagamin already gave me after all! 'Night Teach, 'night miss Takara!  
Nanakon: See ya, Konata.  
Yukari Takara: Pleasant dreams Konata-san.  
_Konakona is offline.  
_Nanakon: I'll talk to you later too, Takara-san.  
Yukari Takara: Farewell. And please, call me Yukari. Takara-san sounds so pompous and stuffy.  
Nanakon: Alright, if you say so. 'Night night  
Yukari Takara: Pleasant dreams to you as well.  
_Nanakon is offline.  
Yukari Takara is offline._

Sighing, Nanako quickly readied herself for bed and flicked off the light switch. After powering off her computer and plugging in her phone she slipped under the covers and swiftly fell asleep, grinning for a reason she couldn't quite place.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the wait everybody! Got a little too caught up in Borderlands 2, Sono Hanabira, and drawing. Anyways, excuses aside, here's chapter three. Enjoy.**

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Brrrrriiiiing!

The loud ringing of the bell cut through the silent classroom, signalling temporary freedom to all its occupants for another week. The room was in moments full of the sound of chairs scraping across the ground, bags being packed, and conversations about plans for the weekend beginning to form. In a few short minutes the classroom was empty, save for the blonde teacher finishing up marking a pop quiz in the returning silence. A silence which was broken once again by a different ringing. A familiar tune blared from her pocket as her phone went off. Whipping out her smartphone and hitting the answer key, she continued marking with one hand and holding her phone with the other.

"Hello, Kuroi speaking" she drawled lazily as she began twirling her red marking pen around with her fingers.

"Hello Nanako!" A bubbly voice came through the earpiece, causing Nanako to fumble and drop her pen.

"Oh, um, hello there Miss Takara!" she replied with a bit too much excitement for her own taste. "How are you today?"

"I'm fine Nanako," the reply came through, ever so slightly miffed, "but what have I told you about calling me 'Miss Takara'?"

"Oh, sorry about that, um, Yukari-san." Nanako scratched her head sheepishly. "So, what're you calling about? Did you need something?"

"Hm, what did I call for again...?" The pink haired woman paused before responding. "Ah, I remember now! Are you busy tonight?"

"Nope! Not at all!" Nanako was a little too quick to dismiss the notion that she wasn't doing anything and sweatdropped. "Uh, I mean, tonight? Let me check my day planner..." She flitted one of the tests back and forth and pretended to take a few moments to check her 'day planner'. "Um, yeah, nothing tonight..."

"Oh, yay!" squealed Yukari through the phone a few quick claps were heard, leading Nanako to wonder how she managed to clap while holding the phone. "So, would you like to meet with me later tonight?" Nanako paused, but was perplexed as she couldn't quite discern why.

"Uh, yeah sure. When?" The pen returned to her hand and resumed its twirling between her dexterous digits.

"Oh, do you mind meeting me at the corner of fourth and forty-second, at around five o'clock?" Nanako checked her watch. It was currently 3:27. Plenty of time to get home and freshen up, though why it seemed so important eluded her. It was just a simple meeting between friends after all, nothing more. Still, she felt she needed to look presentable around the older woman, so a little preparation couldn't hurt.

"Yeah, sure, I can do that. I'll just head home and walk over once I'm ready, it's not too far from where I live." Nanako replied after a small pause. "Does that sound cool?"

"Oh, wonderful!" Again, the clapping came through. "Alright, I'll talk to you later. See you soon!" _Click._

"Alright, an hour and a half until I have to be there, better get packed up and get out of here." Nanako stretched and began packing her supplies into her bag when she spotted a large bit of blue out of the corner of her eye. Turning, she was met with the all too familiar catlike grin of her friend and student Konata Izumi, who at the moment looked far more conniving than Nanako was comfortable with.

"Oh, Izumi, I didn't see you there! W-what're you still doing here?" Nanako stammered, but Konata's expression didn't change. She simply stalked over, her mischievous gaze never leaving the flustered teacher, who now had a rapidly spreading blush forming on her face.

"Oh, nothing much..." She continued forward, further agitating the blonde as she prowled ever closer until she was standing directly in front of the teacher's desk and placed her hands on it, leaning forward. "I just happened to forget something and couldn't help but overhear you being invited on a hot date by the older of the Takaras. Good job Nanako, triggering the Yukari flags!" She winked and Nanako felt her face instantly shift to a bright cherry red before the shorter girl burst into laughter. Once her laughter was spent, Nanako struggled to make a retort but failed spectacularly.

"Th-that's not it at all!" the older woman exclaimed as the otaku continued to stifle her last few chuckles. "We're just friends, and she invited me to spend the evening with her. That's all."

"Are you suuure?" The grin spread even wider. "Just friends, that's all? Not looking for something _mooore_? You two have been getting pretty close pretty quick, you even have online nicknames for each other!" She wiggled her eyebrows at her increasingly embarrassed friend.

"No, it's not like that! She's just someone I met at the bar, and we became friends. I'm not- I'm not looking for a relationship with her or anything!" The blonde continued to deny the diminutive girl's accusations.

"Okay, okay. I'll let it slide this time, since you seem so opposed to the idea." Konata's face fell noticeably. "I thought you were finally getting some love in your life, but I guess I must have been mistaken. And I thought you'd make a cute couple. Oh well." Konata's face returned to its normal feline expression. "Anyways, I guess I'd better head out. You should too, unless you want to be late for your _daaate_!" The bluenette took that opportunity to tear out of the classroom to avoid her teacher's wrath.

"Again, it's not a date! Jeez..." Nanako called after her as she swiftly made her exit. She checked her watch again and paled. "Crap, she's right! I should probably get going if I don't want to be late!" With that, the blonde stuffed her bag and tore down the hall towards the staff parking lot.

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After driving home and showering in record time, Nanako stood in front of her rather small closet, looking over her less-than-varied wardrobe.

'When I look at it all at once, it seems like all I have is one outfit.' Nanako thought to herself as she perused her very limited selection of outfits. 'White shirts, maroon slacks, red ties. Oh, and let's not forget the matching maroon jacket. Hmm, what's that?' She glanced to the very end of her closet and with a little manoeuvring pulled out an outfit consisting of a green tank top and loose, dark blue jeans

"Wait a minute, when did I get these?" she muttered as she held them up to herself. "Well, I guess it'll do." She glanced at the clock. 4:32. Quickly changing, she grabbed her phone and purse and tossing on her familiar red jacket, she headed out the door.

The street was moderately busy, students meandering about to whittle away their days off, parents finishing afternoon shopping, and late shift workers trudging along to their workplaces. "Heh, poor bastards.' Nanako though to herself, silently revelling in her job's consistent hours, weekends and holidays off, and generally laidback atmosphere. Continuing her trek, it didn't take her long to reach the agreed upon meeting place. She checked the time again. 4:49, she was a little early owing to the close proximity to her apartment. Leaning against a lamp post, she turned her eyes to her phone began perusing through her emails and messages. Being so engrossed in her phone, she didn't notice the woman sneaking up behind her until two soft hands were held over her eyes from behind.

"Guess who?!" an exuberant voice called from behind her, and she had to suppress a yelp of surprise before recognizing the voice of the one currently obstructing her sight.

"Hmm, okay. That voice sounded like one of the Takara girls," Nanako drawled, placing one hand on her hip and one on her chin, "and I'm going to hazard a guess here and say it's NOT the one who called me and asked to meet me here, so... Miyuki-san? Is that you?" Yukari laughed and removed her hands from the teacher's face, pulling down her bottom eyelid and sticking her tongue out. Nanako could've sworn she'd seen a girl use the exact same gesture in The Exuberance of Ihurah Ayimuzus, but decided that the likelihood of Yukari having seen said anime was slim to none. "Hey there Yuka-chan." She greeted with her nickname for the older woman.

"Hello Nana-chan!" Yukari replied, with her own nickname. "I'm glad you could make it."

"Glad I could too. So, do you have anywhere specific in mind that we're headed?" Yukari's face lit up at the question.

"Ah yes, there is somewhere I was planning to go! Follow me." She replied and started down the street.

"Are you gonna tell me where we're going or what?" the blonde queried, and was answered by an almost taunting shake of the head. "Alright then, lead on, valiant commander!" She lazily held a mock salute until Yukari took it upon herself to dismiss her and continue on to their mystery destination.

Allowing the excitable pinkette to lead the way, Nanako let her mind to wander back to Konata's insinuations in the classroom.

'I'm not trying to hook up with Yukari, am I?' Nanako thought to herself as she followed said woman down the street. 'I mean, sure she's cute and all, and managed to retain a nice figure as well. Not to mention how funny and s- No! Stop it! Konata's just corrupting your mind, that's it. She's been playing too many ero games and can't tell the difference between reality and fiction. Yukari's just a friend, that's all. Just a friend...' Nanako once again had to be startled out of her state of concentration by her companion.

"Knock knock, anyone in there?" Yukari tapped playfully on the side of the blonde's head. "We're here!"

Nanako looked around and noticed where she was. Glancing about revealed that the two women were standing outside the fairly new (and appropriately named) "Amusement Land" amusement park, if the colourful sign attached to the booth directly in front of her was to be believed.

"An amusement park, huh? I'm game if it's within my price bracket. Uh, one sec, lemme check the sign here..." she furrowed her brows, glancing across the words before her eyes widened. "7000 yen?! Are you sure you don't want to go somewh-." She turned back to Yukari only to be cut off by the sight of her holding out a ticket matching the one in her other hand.

"Oops, too late!" the rose haired bundle of energy giggled again.

"No no no, stop it! You can't keep buying stuff for me. You bought my drinks last time, and now you're paying my way into an overpriced playground. I feel bad accepting this!" The teacher ranted, and Yukari withdrew a little, before grinning warmly again and once more thrusting the ticket at her.

"Well, the ticket is non-refundable, so you might as well take it." Nanako paused and grunted before begrudgingly accepting the small slip. "If you feel that bad about the money, don't even worry about it. Between my husband's life insurance, his inheritance from his family, and generous allowances from my parents, I'm in no want of funds." Nanako glanced once more at the ticket before looking back up at the face of the older woman.

"Alright, fine. But no more buying stuff for me alright?" the blonde requested, and awaited Yukari's nod before she grinned. "Alright then. With that out of the way, let's get going!" The pinkette's face cracked into yet another smile as she took off into the park, gripping Nanako's arm to drag her along and laughing to herself, leaving a very confused ticket boy in their wake.

Nanako couldn't help but allow Yukari's infectious smile to spread to her face.

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Neither of them noticed they were still holding hands as they inspected the rides, wondering what to do first. Yukari tugged Nanako's arm, pulling her toward a looming vortex of twisted metal surrounded by terrified screams. A large, obnoxiously bright red and blue sign proclaimed its name to be The Rocket, and a decent sized line awaited them.

"Come on, let's go on this first!" Yukari exclaimed, and Nanako gulped slightly. The towering steel tracks and spires stood tall and intimidating. She could almost hear them mocking her, above the loud screams of its passengers. She gulped audibly and sweatdropped.

"Uh, well, how about we save the best for last? Yeah, let's go on that one later..." She tried to redirect the older mother's attention from the frightening metal behemoth, but Yukari's grip was iron, her feet planted in determination. Nanako looked back at her, her companion's purple eyes pleading for her to yield.

"Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplea se!" The pair of eyes was boring into her with a fiery intensity. 'Nonononono, don't pull out the puppy-dog eyes on me, you're actually cute enough to pull it off!' Nanako thought with dismay and attempted to stand her ground against the assault, but those eyes were unrelenting, begging her to say yes and battering down her will to refuse. The teacher gulped as her arguments died in her throat.

"Er, ah... Alright, alright! Just stop with the puppy-dog eyes! Jeez, it's like I can't say no to you. You won't LET me say no." The blonde's mumbling elicited another gleeful giggle from the mother, and they took their place in line. The closer they got to the front, the more nervous the look on Nanako's face became. She'd never been on a rollercoaster, and the screams coming from the ride certainly didn't psyche her up. As they reached the front, Nanako tried to back out.

"Hey, how about you go on and I'll wait for you? Have fun!" However her escape was once again foiled by Yukari's grip.

"What's wrong? Are you scared?" Yukari had a look of concern on her face.

"No! Um, well yeah, kind of..." Nanako trailed off, blushing lightly in embarrassment. "I've never been on one before, so I guess I'm kind of nervous." Yukari's look of concern lingered for a moment before returning to her usual smile.

"I see. Well, how about this? If you get really scared, you can close your eyes and hold my hand, if that'll help." Nanako's blush deepened at the wink she received and suddenly became very interested in staring at her shoes.

"Uh, that's... Well, I-I guess." She mumbled again as the cars pulled up in front of them. However, once the safety restraint came down over her, she began to panic again until she felt a hand wrap around her own. She looked over at Yukari's smiling face and her unease began to ebb. The car lurched forward slightly as they began the slow ascent up the first large incline. Her unease began to return slowly, but she resisted the urge to scream or shut her eyes. 'Come on Serpent Nana' her brain taunted. 'There are people less than half your age on this thing, pull yourself together!' The mental pep talk was cut off as she quickly felt the ride pull itself forwards over the apex of the hill and succumb to gravity.

She screamed throughout the entire ride.

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With wobbly knees and a pounding heart, Nanako disembarked from the ride with a mixed sense of relief and disappointment. Relief that the ride was over but simultaneous disappointment as her adrenaline rush wore off. 'That wasn't so bad!' Nanako grinned to herself. 'It was actually kind of fun! And holding Yukari's nice, soft hand wasn't bad either...' She caught up to the pinkette waiting for her and together they strolled out the exit gate.

"There, that wasn't so bad now was it?" said pinkette playfully jabbed, Nanako's grin widening.

"Actually it was pretty fun!" the teacher replied. "I wouldn't mind trying one of the other ones this park has." The blonde giggled cheerfully.

"That's wonderful, because this park has five, and that one wasn't even the largest or fastest! Also, the park doesn't close until 11:30, so we have plenty of time to try them all!" Nanako sweat dropped slightly.

'That wasn't the worst one here? Yikes!' She paled slightly, before immediately brightening back up. 'Whatever, I can handle it. Especially if it means I get to hold that hand again...' She shook her head. 'Stop that.'

"Anyways, what's next?" Nanako turned to Yukari, who grinned even wider.

"Whatever happens to catch our eyes." She held out her hand again and Nanako blushed but wrapped her hand around Yukari's.

'Sure, no romantic feelings whatsoever between you two.' Nanako could vividly imagine Konata's face mocking her.

'Quiet, you.' She mentally replied.

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The rest of the evening was spent flitting between every interesting looking attraction they came across. By the end of the night, they had ridden nearly every one of the exciting attractions in the park, and re-ridden a few as well. But amid the excitement, the clock ticked on, and before either party knew it, 11:00 was upon them.

"Oh, shoot, it's getting kind of late." Nanako noted, drawing her companions attention. "It's already 11:00" Yukari frowned.

"Oh dear," She sighed, "I guess time really does fly when you're having fun." She brightened a little at a sudden realization. "We still have time for one last ride though, and I think I should let you decide, seeing as I've been dragging you around all day." For the first time that day, the choice of what to do next was left up to Nanako, and she looked around before her eyes alighted upon a specific attraction.

"Oh, hey, a Ferris wheel!" Nanako exclaimed. "I haven't been on one of these since, forever!" She tugged the pinkette over, and they only had to stand in line for a few minutes before getting on. The line was rather short at this time of night. One thing Nanako slowly realized as the cross bar on their seat was lowered, was that almost everyone else in line was a couple. This put a momentary pang of longing into her heart, before she shook it away.

'Don't think like that Nanako, stop it right now.' She thought to herself as the wheel began its rotations. 'Don't need to be getting all sappy just because of something silly. You're fine.' She blinked and realized both that her and Yukari were currently at the top of the wheel. Glancing at her companion, she noticed Yukari was not grinning as normal, but looking wistfully off into the distance.

"Hey, Yukari?" she started tentatively. She wasn't familiar with this side of the normally bubbly woman. "Something bothering you?" The mother shook her head.

"No, nothing's wrong." She replied after a moment. "I'm just reminiscing, that's all. The last time I was on a Ferris wheel was about eighteen years ago." It took a moment for the connection to click in Nanako's head.

"Wait, do you mean... With, uh, him?" Nanako fumbled her sentence and instantly felt like kicking herself. 'Why the hell did I just ask that?!' She turned her face away in guilt. "I... I shouldn't have asked that. I'm sorry." A light giggle drew her attention back to the pinkette.

"Oh Nana-chan, I'm not made of glass, you seem to think my poor heart will shatter at the mere mention of my late husband." Nanako's expression didn't change, and Yukari smiled. "It's been seventeen years, so I think I'm able to talk about it by now." Nanako shrugged and sheepily rubbed the back of her head.

"Alright, if you say so." Nanako replied, exhaling and continuing to look out as their car finally descended and they disembarked. Yukari now displayed a frown as they made their way to the park exit.

"Oh, pooh. Now I've gone and botched the whole date." Yukari pouted, prompting Nanako to perform an impromptu double take.

"Wait, what?" Nanako stared at her as Yukari simply looked over at her.

"What?" the pinkette replied looking puzzled.

"What did you just say?" The blonde questioned, receiving another perplexed look.

"I said that I've gone and botched the whole date. Haven't I?" Yukari asked, and Nanako sputtered for the right words.

"I... Wait... Is this a date?" She finished lamely. Yukari raised her eyebrows before her mouth formed into a smirk.

"I don't know, is it?" she replied, grinning as Nanako's brain tried to form a response.

"I... uh... Wait, you invited me, so you should be the one answering!" the blonde retorted, causing the pinkette to pout.

"Ooh, you're sharp. Well, what would you say if I said yes?" Yukari's question caused Nanako's face to flush yet again.

'Wait, what? Is this some sort of test? Is she honestly asking?' Nanako panicked in her mind. 'Does she WANT it to be a date? Do I? Does she even swing that way? I... I...'

'Screw it.'

"I think I'd like that." she finally replied and found Yukari with a matching blush on her face, which broke into a happy grin.

"Oh, goody! For a moment there, I thought you might reject me." She replied with her hands on her cheeks. "I don't know what I would've done then!" Nanako giggled at the display of mock anxiety as they continued walking.

A comfortable silence accompanied the two as they continued toward the train station, Yukari having grabbed Nanako's hand at some point. Nanako didn't mind.

"Well, here we are." Nanako observed as they reached the station. She blushed a little as she continued. "Uh, thanks for taking me out tonight, I had a lot of fun." Yukari smiled and waved her hand dismissively.

"It was no problem at all, I enjoyed myself as well." the mother replied, before bringing her eyes to Nanako's face. "Now then, aren't you forgetting something?" Nanako quickly checked her pockets and her purse before looking back at her companion, who was quite a bit closer than before.

"Silly," she teased playfully as she leaned towards the blonde's face, "I meant the goodnight kiss of course!" Nanako's face lit up cherry red once again as she sputtered for words before feeling her mouth become entangled by a soft pair of lips. A few seconds later, an artificial breeze blew past and Yukari pulled away.

"Guess that's my train." She stated simply and turned on her heel. "Goodnight Nana-chan. I'll talk to you later!" The blonde simply stood still momentarily before snapping back to reality.

"Oh, uh, goodnight Yukar- Yuka-chan!" she enthusiastically returned as Yukari boarded the train. After waving to the older woman through the window and watching the train leave, Nanako left herself, humming the whole way home.

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_Nanakon is online.  
_Konakona: Hey teach! How was the _daaate_?  
Nanakon: It was pretty great! We went to an amusement park and I rode a roller coaster for the first time!  
Konakona: So it was a date! I knew it!  
Nanakon: I guess it was. I just wish I'd known it too.  
Konakona: Wait, what? For real?  
Nanakon: Apparently.  
Konakona: What do you mean by that, hmm? Are you two together or not?  
Nanakon: I think so.  
Konakona: What makes you say that?  
Nanakon: Well, she kissed me less than twenty minutes ago, so I think I can safely say we're at least past the friend stage.  
Konakona: Whoa, what?! Right on, Teach! With you triggering all the right flags like this, you're bound to get the good ending!  
Nanakon: You really should stop playing those dating sims.  
Konakona: Maybe. But I won't.  
Nanakon: Thought so. Anyway, is your homework done?  
Konakona:...  
Nanakon: Get on it.  
Konakona: Grumble grumble... Fine. See ya, Teach.  
Nanakon: Night, Izumi.  
_Konakona is offline.  
Nanakon is offline._

Powering off her computer, Nanako brushed her teeth and slipped into some pyjamas before flicking off her lights and hopping into bed, en route to dreams of her new pink haired partner.

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**Well, I wasn't expecting to put them together so soon, but this kind of just happened. Also not quite sure where to go from here, aside from just straight fluff, but I'll figure something out. Until next time.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello all you readers out there. New chapter's up, obviously. This one takes a bit of a more of a serious tone to address something I needed to deal with sooner rather than later. Character's may be a bit OOC. Anyways, as always onto the story and enjoy.**

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The first thing Yukari noticed when she awoke was the smell of bacon wafting into her room. This was odd to her, because she was usually the one who cooked in the household and she was currently in bed. After her sleep addled mind pondered this for a moment, she realized that it must be Miyuki cooking. This was also confusing to the slowly awakening woman as she dragged herself out of bed to take a quick shower and get dressed. After sufficiently preparing herself for the day, she groggily made her way downstairs and towards the source of the smell filling her nostrils.

"Miyuki dear, what are you doing up so early?" Yukari mumbled sleepily as she rubbed her eyes, trying to fight off the drowsiness still clinging to her. Miyuki stopped her cooking for a moment and smiled back at her mom.

"Ah, good morning mother." She replied cheerily, turning back to flip over a cooking egg. "I have no sch ool today and found myself awake earlier than usual. I thought I might cook today seeing as you always cook for me, and I was up earlier than you. I hope you don't mind a more western breakfast, I had a desire for bacon and eggs." Yukari waved her hand dismissively.

"Oh no, I don't mind at all." Yukari tried to stifle a yawn with her hand. "Although I certainly wouldn't mind a coffee if you made some." Her daughter pointed to the half filled coffeepot. Cream and sugar containers were already laid out beside it. Yukari smiled. "You are simply wonderful, my dear." After fixing herself a large mug of coffee with plenty of cream and sugar, Yukari stood to the side as a comfortable silence fell between them. Miyuki finished cooking breakfast for the two. Placing their plates at the table, she removed her apron and joined her mother at the table.

"Itedakimas." They said in unison and began to eat. After a few mouthfuls however, Yukari looked over to her daughter.  
"Um, Miyuki dear, there's been something I've been meaning to ask you..." Yukari started, and Miyuki looked up from her food.  
"What is it mother?" she replied cheerfully, dabbing at her mouth with a napkin.  
"Well you see..." she paused. "What would you think if I started dating? Ah, again?" Miyuki was silent for a moment before she started giggling quietly. Yukari simply stared at her, confused.  
"Oh, mother, I apologize for laughing, how impolite of me!" Miyuki covered her mouth with a hand before stifling her chuckles and continuing. "I have no qualms with you dating whomever you choose. If anything, I believe it would be good for you to meet someone. You've been alone ever since father passed away. I was worried you might never try to find anyone else." Her expression fell slightly as she finished, but immediately brightened again. "Anyways, yes, I am perfectly fine with you dating. Is that all?" Yukari nodded to her. "Well then, if I may, can I ask if you have found someone already? You have been going out a little more frequently lately." Her mother paused for a moment.

"Yes," she started simply, "I have found someone with whom I am quite enamoured already, and we have officially confirmed with each other that we are a couple." Miyuki clapped softly.

"That's wonderful mother, simply wonderful. Now, I don't mean to pry, but may I ask who it might be? I'm sure I'll meet them soon enough, should they be worthy of pursuing a long term relationship with, but I am quite curious now." Once more, Yukari paused before replying.

"I-I'm not quite sure if they wish for that quite yet. However, I will ask them and perhaps you can meet sometime." Miyuki raised her eyebrows slightly but nodded, and set about cleaning up the breakfast dishes while Yukari picked up the phone and punched in Nanako's number. A few rings later she heard the phone being answered.

"Ah, sorry about that, I couldn't find my phone! Kuroi speaking!" the blonde hurriedly replied, causing Yukari to chuckle and give away her identity. "Oh, hey Yuka-chan. How're you?"

"Why hello. I'm quite refreshed after my coffee. However, I have something I wish to ask you about." The older woman's shift from a bubbly to serious tone jarred Nanako for a moment.

"Um, sure, ask me anything." Nanako responded and Yukari continued.

"Well, I have told Miyuki that I'm dating now, but she doesn't know it's with you. I was wondering if you were comfortable with her knowing yet." She didn't receive a reply for several seconds.

"Sure, I don't mind. I mean, I don't really see any reason to hide it from her." Yukari let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding.

"Ah, thank you. I wasn't sure if you would be opposed to that. And besides, I didn't want to have to keep you a secret. You're too wonderful for that!" If Nanako had been in the room, Yukari would've seen the massive blush that appeared on her face.

"Uh, well, ah, thanks..." she mumbled and Yukari giggled.

"Anyways, that's all. I will talk to you later, okay?" She heard Nanako mumble an agreement. "Okay, bye Nana-chan!" **Click. **Returning to the kitchen, she was met with an inquisitive gaze from Miyuki, who was starting up the dishwasher's wash cycle.

"Nana-chan?" Miyuki commented amusedly. "What a cute nickname." Yukari blushed lightly at this but took a deep calming breath.

"Miyuki, I just got off the phone with, um the object of my affections, and she is completely comfortable with you knowing her identity." Miyuki once again raised her eyebrows. "It's your teacher, Nanako Kuroi." Yukari looked over at her daughter, who didn't reply right away. She paused, looking away from Yukari as the seconds ticked by. A sweat drop slowly slid down the back of Yukari's neck. 'Is she upset for some reason?' She thought to herself before Miyuki snapped her attention back to reality.

"Hmm, I'm sorry about that, it just took me by surprise." Miyuki responded. "I'm quite happy for you. Ms. Kuroi is a wonderful woman, from what I've heard from Konata. I don't much interact with her myself."

"I see. Thank you for accepting this so easily. Well anyway, that was a very delicious breakfast dear, thank you." As she left the room Miyuki picked up her cell phone and punched in her teacher's number after a quick search of the school website.

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**Briiing-ring! Briiing-ring!**

'Another call? Odd.' The woman thought to herself as she once again grabbed her cell phone.

**"**Kuroi speaking." She drawled into the receiver.

"Hello Ms. Kuroi. How are you this morning?" The blonde furrowed her brows as she tried to match the half-familiar voice to a name. Then it clicked.

"Miyuki?" She asked hesitantly wondering why in the world Miyuki would be calling her at all, much less before noon. "Uh, I'm fine, how about you? Is there something you needed?" She heard a small giggle before she got a response.

"Oh, it's not much really. I was wondering if you would like to get some tea or coffee later, whichever you prefer." Nanako's mind struggled away, trying to comprehend why her student wanted to ask her out for tea. She knew it must have something to do with Yukari, but she couldn't for the life of her grasp what it might be.

"I... I don't see why not. I wasn't planning on doing much today." She replied, still hesitant due to not quite knowing the nature of the meeting. "Where and when?"

"Let's meet somewhere in between my residence and yours. I know this lovely little teahouse that's never too busy. Have you ever been to the Shanghai? It shouldn't be too far out of the way."

"Hmm, nope, never heard of it." Nanako verbally shrugged and Miyuki explained where it was situated. "Alright, and when do you want me to be there?"

"Hmm, let's see... can you make it there in about two hours? That should give me plenty of time to get ready and catch the proper trains."

"Alright, I'll see you then. Uh, bye." **Click.** Nanako ended the call and stared at her phone for a few moments

'What could she want to discuss so badly?'

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"Hello there, welcome to the Shanghai!" an excitable looking woman greeted Nanako as she entered the establishment. "Uh, may I show you to a table?"

"Actually," Nanako started, "I'm supposed to be meeting someone. Is there a tall, pink haired girl with glasses here somewhere?"

"Oh, yes Miyuki is right over there. She's been expecting you." The orange haired waitress replied with a small smile and showed her to the table where Miyuki sat, calmly sipping a cup of what Nanako's nose identified as a type of mint tea.

'Huh, she must come here often if she's on first name terms with the staff.' The teacher noted idly.

"Ah, Ms. Kuroi. How nice to see you. Please have a seat." The pinkette's hand gestured to the other side of the table, and Nanako plopped down across from her.

"Um, may I get you anything?" The waitress asked, and Nanako thought for a moment.

"A medium coffee, please. Two sugar, no cream." Nanako replied and the waitress scurried off to the kitchen. "So."

"So?" Miyuki tilted her head.

"So why did you ask me to come here?" Nanako asked. "It seems like you want to talk about something away from your mom's ears. That, or you coincidentally have a problem that you're not comfortable talking to with either your friends or your mother. Either way I'm here now, so let's talk." Another giggle came from the pinkette.

"Not one to beat around the bush I see. Very well, yes, I wished to speak with you after mother said you were dating." She was about to continue when the blonde cut her off.

"Which you're cool with, right?" Nanako hurriedly interjected before Miyuki waved her hand dismissively.

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine with it." The younger girl nodded and Nanako let out a sigh of relief. "However." Nanako immediately held her breath again as her companion's face turned serious. "I just want to confirm that you are serious about this relationship. Mother has been alone for as long as I've been alive. I don't know if she could handle it if she found someone only to lose them again." The steel in her voice startled the teacher. "So if you are serious about this, then I give my full permission to you. But if not I do hope you will end the relationship posthaste." The blonde laughed bitterly, causing a frown to appear on her companion's face. "I do not see what is so funny." Nanako wiped a small tear from her eye.

"Let me tel-" The conversation was interrupted once more as the teacher's coffee arrived. "Ah, thank you."

"You just let me know if you need anything, alright?" The waitress bowed deeply and scurried off again. Nanako waited until she left before continuing.

"As I was saying," Nanako replied, turning her eyes back to her still visibly upset tablemate, "you have nothing to worry about. I want to tell you a story, if that's alright." Nanako waited until the other girl's head nodded for her to go on. "Alright. Once upon a time, there was a girl. She was in tenth grade. She was dressed up all nice in her uniform for the start of the new school year. Then a boy came up to her, and he complemented her hair, and her eyes, and everything about her and asked her to be his girlfriend. She was rather flattered at the time and despite not knowing him very well she said 'yes.' And so they dated for a little while. Then one day the boy asked her to have sex with him. She wasn't very familiar with relationships and didn't know what to do, but she liked him and wanted him to like her. So she said, 'okay.' Two days later the boy stopped responding to her texts and she saw him with another girl. He complemented the other girl's hair, and her eyes, and everything about her. The first girl was heartbroken. She stopped talking to him and tried to forget all about it. She grew up, moved away from home, went to university, and started going to bars. This was partly to drink away that first heartbreak and partly to try to find someone who would love her, the way she'd thought the other boy had. Several times she thought she might've found that special someone, but every time, without fail, she'd wake up the next morning in an empty motel room, her clothes tossed on the floor and no indication that there had ever been anyone there but her. She'd realize that none of the word's they'd said had been sincere and all they'd wanted was a one night stand. She grew a little older, and when she was twenty seven she heard one of her students talking about Christmas cakes and relationships. You might remember that conversation, can't quite remember if you were there or not. About how after the twenty fifth of December a Christmas cake is sold for half price because it's not wanted anymore. She related this to someone looking for a relationship. She said that after they turn twenty five, it's too late to find one. When she heard that, she was so damn grateful she didn't have any classes scheduled the rest of the afternoon so that she wouldn't have to walk into class and try to teach with puffy red eyes and tear streaks still visible on her face. She could just go home and sob into her pillow and think about how Konata was right and no one would ever want her. So yeah, Miyuki, I know what it's like to be alone. And I know what it's like to have that fragile little hope that the relationship will work out torn away from you and stepped on, ground into the dust under the shoe of someone just looking for a good time and nothing more. I am certainly not going to do it to Yukari because I know what that's like. I'm all too familiar with it." Miyuki was staring hard at the table, a tear falling off her face onto the wooden surface, and a small, quiet laugh came forth from her mouth. Nanako looked at her, not angry but puzzled.

"I-I never knew y-you were so poetic." Miyuki stuttered out, at which Nanako shrugged.

"Took a few poetry classes in university. Didn't know what I wanted to be, so I did a bit of everything. Yeah, I can speak eloquently, just don't tell anybody, alright?" She raised an eyebrow and grinned at the pink haired girl and she brightened a little, wiping a few tears from her eyes.

"Well, that was quite a well worded exposition." The pinkette replied while dabbing at her eye with her sleeve. This prompted the blonde to quickly rummage in her bag to find a handkerchief. "I'm sorry if I came off as overbearing, especially since she's my parent and not the other way around, but I just want her to be happy."

"Well, I'll do my best Miyuki. Let's get you cleaned up. Can't exactly bring you home looking like I just killed your favourite pet or something." She passed the handkerchief to the younger girl and allowed her to tidy her face up before she dropped some bills for their beverages and stood. "C'mon, I'll give you a lift."

"Oh, um, thank you." Miyuki still looked quite sheepish and pensive, so Nanako simply led her to the car. The only words exchanged between them were another thank you from Miyuki as Nanako dropped her off. That was fine, however. All the words they'd needed to say had come out at the tea house.

Nanako breathed a sigh of relief as she drove back to her apartment. 'Well, if nothing else I'm glad to have any potential animosity from Miyuki dealt with. Doesn't mean smooth sailing from here on out though.' She thought as she parked her car. 'Well, whatever. I'll just try to keep **_them_** out of the loop as long as possible and deal with the problem when it arises.'

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**Well that seems shorter to me than the word count says, but I can't quite tell why. Not much to say here at the moment except that I hope you enjoyed. See you all next chapter (hopefully).**


	5. Chapter 5

**Briiing, briiing, briiing.**

'_Ugh, why does the author have to keep starting the chapter with a phone call waking me up...?'_ Nanako's sleep muddled brain wondered as her hand fumbled across her desk in search of the noisy object. '_Wait, that sentence made absolutely no sense... I need caffeine...'_ Her hand bumped into her phone and she swiped the screen lazily to answer.  
"Hello, this is Kuroi speaking..." she mumbled into the receiver before sitting up and letting loose a massive yawn.  
"Ah, Ms. Kuroi, good morning. I hope I didn't wake you." The reply was exceedingly formal, polite, and voiced with a soft, serene grace. Even to Nanako's mind still in the process of booting up, that could mean only one person.  
"Miyuki? Is that you?" Nanako let out another behemoth of a yawn. "What's up?"  
"Is it okay to be calling this early?" Miyuki's voice sounded slightly worried and apologetic. "Should I have waited, or should I call back later?" Nanako waved her hand, being too tired to realize Miyuki couldn't see her gesture.  
"Nah, it's fine." She yawned yet again. "If you Takara girls are going to be waking me up all weekend every weekend, I suppose I'll just have to get used to it. Maybe I'll even start going to bed earlier. Anyway, what's up? Did you need something, or did you just feel like saying 'hi'?"  
"Well, if you say it's alright, then I'll take your word for it." Miyuki sighed, before her voice became cheery again. "Anyways, the reason I called is because I was wondering if you would care to go bowling along with Honoka and Minami, mother, and myself."  
"Bowling?" Nanako stood up and stretched as she replied. "Haven't done that in a while, so I'm game." Popping the tab on her energy drink can, she continued. "So, who're the other two you mentioned?"  
"Ah, Honoka and Minami Iwasaki. They are our neighbours and long time family friends." Miyuki explained. "You may have seen Minami at school, as she is always accompanying Konata's little cousin, Yutaka Kobayakawa." Nanako thought for a moment before an image of the mint-haired girl in question slowly came to mind.  
"Ah, I think I know who you're talking about now. She's a first year right?" A small 'mhm' confirmed her query. "I see. Alright, I assume we'll be meeting at that Midtown Bowl n' Roll place?"  
"Well actually, we were planning on meeting at around five thirty for dinner before going to the bowling alley. That's another thing I would like to ask, do you have any place in particular where you'd like to eat? We haven't decided where to go, so if you have a suggestion, we can take it into consideration." Nanako thought for a moment about places she liked to eat.  
"Nah, all the places I ever really go out to eat are bars, and I don't exactly think that's the place for four high class ladies to be eating." Miyuki laughed at Nanako's comment, causing the teacher to scrunch her eyebrows. "What, what's so funny?" She demanded.  
"Sorry, but I actually think that's a wonderful idea." Miyuki finished stifling her soft giggles. "Perhaps not an actual bar per se, but a pub style restaurant. I haven't dined in one of those in quite some time. I will see what mother and the Iwasaki's think of the idea and either myself or mother will call back later with further details, okay?" Nanako nodded, before quickly remembering she was on the phone.  
"Uh, yeah, that's fine. I'll talk to you later then."  
"Indeed. Farewell for now." **Click.**

Nanako put down her phone and stretched again. She had about six hours to kill, and she knew just how to spend them. Starting up her computer, she logged into Epic Adventure Online. "Oh, Izumi's online." the woman mumbled to herself as the game was loading. "I guess that's not really a surprise, but she should get out more."

Nanakon: Hey Izumi.  
Konakona: Hey, what's up Teach?  
Nanakon: Nothing much. I have nothing to do until this evening, so what better to do than game, right?  
Konakona: Ooh, another hot date? Man, you just can't stay away can you?  
Nanakon: Not this time, more of an outing. We won't be the only ones there.  
Konakona: Oh, who else is coming?  
Nanakon: Why so curious?  
Konakona: Why so serious? I was just wondering.  
Nanakon: Touche. You know the Iwasaki girl that's friends with your cousin? Well, her, her mother, myself, Miyuki, and Yukari.  
Konakona: Ah, I see. Well, hope you have fun.  
Nanakon: Thanks. Ready to quest now that your curiosity is sated?  
Konakona: You know it! Let's go!

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Five hours later, Nanako contemplated the contents of her wardrobe. After her revelation that she had a startling lack of casual wear, she had taken it upon herself to grab some new clothes. Now equipped with a slightly more diverse array of outfits, she decided upon a pair of white slacks with a matching white shirt and green sweater.  
'_Meh, not exactly formal,' _she thought to herself as she dropped her clothes and turned on the shower, '_but neither is bowling, so I think I'll be alright.' _Hopping under the steaming stream, she immediately heard her cell phone ring. _'Oh, for the love of... Sigh.' _Cursing the awful timing, she grabbed her phone off the counter.  
"Kuroi speaking." She answered quite hastily as her other hand terminated the shower.  
"Hello Nana-chan!" The greeting this time was filled with such bubbly exuberance that Nanako immediately forgot the awful timing of the call.  
"Hey Yuka-chan, what's up?" Nanako broke into a grin. Yukari's cheerfulness always brightened up her day.  
"Well, we've found a nice little restaurant right near the bowling alley, so the dinner arrangements work out quite nicely. We're just going to meet up there and then walk over after we eat. I just wanted to let you know where dinner was going to be. Anyways, we'll be there in about an hour. See you soon Nana-chan!"  
"Oh, thanks. Yeah, see you soon Yuka-chan." **Click. **With that, Nanako clicked off her phone and returned to her shower.

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"Hey Nana-chan, you're here!"

This was the first thing Nanako heard as she entered the restaurant. As she turned to the voice, she was met with the sight of a seated entourage entirely consisting of pink and green haired women. _'Classy ladies.' _Nanako though, her gaze drifting across the fair assembly.  
"Geez, I feel so out of place here." Nanako laughed, slipping into the empty booth seat beside Yukari. "Here we have two high-class mother-daughter pairs with matching hair colors, and then there's me, some blonde, riff-raff, middle class history teacher."  
"Nonsense," The older green haired woman quickly replied with a wave of her hand. "I'm not sure we're what constitutes 'high-class' so there's no need to feel conspicuous." Nanako looked at her grinned.  
"Well, if you say so." The teacher replied, extending her hand over to the woman across from her. "You must be Honoka Iwasaki. I'm Nanako Kuroi, nice to meet ya." Honoka daintily shook Nanako's outstretched appendage.  
"Oh no," the pine-haired mother rebuffed, "The pleasure is all mine." This caused Nanako to smirk across the table, and a confused look passed over Honoka's face. "What? Did I do something wrong?"  
"Not really," Nanako stated simply. "It's just funny that you tried to say you weren't high class, but then immediately made a very high-class sounding statement." Honoka blushed and stammered out half-formed arguments as the teacher began to laugh at her expense.  
"Oh Nanako, stop teasing her." Yukari chastised playfully, scanning the different entrees in her menu.  
"Alright, alright." The blonde relented and grabbed her menu as well, flipping directly to the burgers. The rest of the group also began deciding their meals, and the table temporarily lapsed into silence.

Nanako was the first to finish with her menu, so she took it upon herself to restart the conversation. "Say, Miyuki?" she started, and said girl looked up with curiosity. "I've been a little curious, what are you planning on doing after school? You're graduating soon, and I'm just wondering if you've thought of anything specific yet. After all, your grades are good enough that you could probably get into any courses at any school you want." The pink haired girl smiled and folded up her menu, apparently done deciding her meal.  
"Well, I'm planning on pursuing a career in teaching, believe it or not." Nanako's eyebrows shot up.  
"Really?" She thought for a moment before nodding. "Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. The class comes to you for help more that they do me. All I hear at the end of the lesson is 'Takara-san, Takara-san, can you help me with this?' and never once do they think of coming to me." The teacher lamented. Yukari reached over and patted her shoulder comfortingly.  
"There there..." The older pinkette tried to think of something to comfort the melancholy educator, but nothing came to mind. It didn't matter however, for a mere moment later Nanako was with a grin.  
"That doesn't matter though. It just goes to show how good of a student Miyuki is, and how great of a teacher she'll be!" Said girl blushed but politely thanked Nanako. At that moment, the waitress arrived to take their orders, sparing Miyuki from prolonged embarrassment.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o -

The bowling alley was a large, dimly lit room with fifteen lanes. The only lighting in the room came from strobe lights, disco balls, and other such fixtures that might belong in a dance club, as opposed to a bowling alley. Large speakers around the room pumped out generic dance music, furthering the rave party vibe.  
"These shoes... I forgot how tacky they looked." Nanako complained over the noise after receiving her rental pair of bowling shoes. "Such bright colors. These belong to an earlier time."  
"So poetic in your complaining." Yukari remarked with a smirk, earning a soft punch on the shoulder from the blonde.  
"Quiet, you."  
Yukari giggled as the duo made their way back to the lane and accompanying seats their group would occupy for the evening.  
"Alright," the pinkette mother addressed the group, "seeing as we have Nana-chan here, our usual setup of pairs isn't going to work. So we're going to have a free for all, every woman for themselves." Everyone nodded their heads, and she clapped her hands together. "So, who's up first?"

The five ladies took their turns, rolling ball after ball. Nanako, Yukari, and Minami were racking up high rolls, while Miyuki and Honoka frequently rolled gutter balls or low scores. After a pair of gutter shots, Honoka took a seat beside Nanako as Yukari stood to take her turn.  
"So." Honoka stated, and Nakako glanced over at her.  
"So?" The blonde replied while cocking her eyebrow.  
"Just don't hurt her." The mother said simply. "I don't want to butt into your affairs too much, but I just hope you're serious about this. I've been friends with Yukari for quite some time, and care for her a great deal." Nanako gave a chuckle as she watched Yukari bowl another perfect strike.  
"No need to worry." She replied. "Miyuki already gave me the 'don't jack her around' schpiel. Not that I was planning on it anyway." She added quickly. Honoka smiled.  
"That's good to hear." The pine haired woman said as she shuffled away from the teacher. Nanako looked at her with puzzlement.  
"Hey, why are you moving away all of a sudden? I'm not contagious or anything." She asked before having her question answered. Her view of Honoka was suddenly blocked by an adorably cheery face framed by cherry blossom pink hair, with the accompanying body plopping itself down right where Honoka had been seated.  
"Are you two being nice?" she questioned the two women seated on opposite sides of her.  
"Yeah, we're cool." "Yes, perfectly alright." Came the two responses, and Yukari clasped her hands together.  
"Good." She stated with a grin.

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'_Well, that was fun.' _Nanako thought as she unlocked her door and tossed her bag onto her bed. Stretching, she walked over and almost pressed the power button on her computer before glancing at the clock. _'9:00. Better not. If I do, I'll be up all night. Can't have that when I'm teaching tomorrow.'_ Sighing, she took a quick shower and brushed her teeth, and was about to get into bed when her cell phone rang. _'Huh? Who's calling this late?' _she pondered as she swiped to answer.  
"Hello, Kuroi speaking" She greeted. At the reply she sighed as a small smile crept over her face.

"Oh. Hello, mom."


End file.
